The invention relates generally to audio-visual communications and data processing devices. The invention relates particularly to the implementation of versatile control, display and communications functions in a small-sized device of this kind.
The mobile phone 10 according to FIG. 1 is primarily intended for two-way communication of speech, and for this purpose the mobile phone has a microphone 11 and a speaker 12. For controlling the operation of the device it has a keyboard 13 and for the transfer of information to the user the device has a display 14. In the common operating position during a telephone call the user holds the mobile phone according to FIG. 1 next to his head so that the speaker 12 is located at the ear and the microphone 11 is as close to the mouth as possible. Due to the operating position during a call it is practically impossible to use the keyboard 13 for entering input data and to read information in the display 14. However, in some cases the user would like to use the keyboard 13 and/or the display 14 also during a call, whereby a prior art mobile phone must be removed from its position next to the head so that it is located in front of the face. When the speaker 12 is removed farther away from the user""s ear the sound reproduced by the speaker is heard more weakly by the user, and correspondingly when the microphone 11 gets farther away from the user""s mouth it will make a poorer recording of the user""s speech.
In prior art there is also known a dual-function telecommunication device 20, illustrated in FIG. 2; in the middle of a call the user can lift the device in the opened state in front of him, whereby a switch (not shown in the figure) in the device automatically switches on a higher volume for the sound reproduction of the speaker 21 and a higher recording sensitivity of the microphone 22, which partly obviates the problem presented above. However, then the user""s privacy suffers, because also persons in the vicinity can hear the sounds from the speaker and because the user usually must speak louder than if the microphone would be really close to the mouth. Moreover, a change from the talking operation to the keyboard operation and vice versa can be felt cumbersome by the user.
A number of developed mobile phones are known from the publication WO 96/35288. In said publication it is proposed among other things that the mobile phone can be provided with an additional display which is such that the image generated by it is located in the user""s field of vision even when the user holds the mobile phone in the common operating position on one side of his head. Said additional display can be located at the bottom end of the mobile phone, whereby it is as such in the user""s field of vision, or the mobile phone can contain (most preferably foldable) optics, with the aid of which the user sees the image generated by the additional display reflected via different mirrors and/or lenses. The publication WO 96/35288 further proposes that a mobile phone can be provided to operate as a video conference means, whereby a camera integrated in the mobile phone or in an accessory used together with the mobile phone photographs the user of the mobile phone and transmits the picture it has taken via a radio connection to the device of the user""s talking partner. Correspondingly the additional display of the mobile phone can then display a picture of the user""s talking partner generated in a corresponding way.
The object of the present invention is to present a communications and data processing device whose functions during operation can be controlled in an easier way than in prior art devices. An object of the invention is also to present a communications and data processing device which has more versatile functions than prior art telecommunication devices.
The objects of the invention are attained by providing a telecommunication device of the mobile phone type with a camera and a display which are mutually arranged so that the display can be used as a viewfinder of the camera.
The communications and data processing device according to the invention which comprises
a speaker and a microphone in order to use the telecommunication device as a telephone, and
a camera having a certain photographing direction, and a display having a certain displaying direction, in order to use the telecommunication device as an image generating means,
is characterised in that said photographing direction is substantially different from said displaying direction.
The user of an electronic device is able to give control instructions to the device by moving the parts of his body in quite different ways, if the response about the effect of the movements required by a good motion co-ordination is visually conveyed to the user. A communications and data processing device according to the invention has a display which the user in the first preferred embodiment of the invention can view also when the device is raised close to the ear next to the head. According to the first embodiment of the invention the device further contains some kind of a device which converts the motions of the user""s fingers, hand and/or head, and/or changes in the position of the device, into display control instructions, in other words into instructions which act on the information which is processed and presented in the display. For instance, the user can move the cursor in the display by rolling the tracker ball of a ball mouse included in the communications and data processing device by the fingers holding the telecommunication device. Alternatively, the user can move a cursor in the display by touching a touch pad in the communications and data processing device. Alternatively or in addition the user can pan the image visible in the display by turning his head and the communications and data processing device kept on one side of his head, as if he would look around him when he talks in the telephone.
In the following the device according to the invention is for short called a telecommunication device. In order to realise a display during operation the tele-communication device according to the invention comprises an optical arrangement, with which the display is made visible in the user""s field of vision, even if the proper telecommunication device would be kept on one side of the head.
In a second embodiment of the invention the telecommunication device also includes a digital camera. In order to facilitate photographing the image produced by the camera can be directed via the display into the user""s field of vision, whereby the user can use the display as a viewfinder of the camera. A display used in this way can be the only display of the telecommunication device, or the telecommunication device can contain a particular display to be used as a viewfinder. If the camera has been directed so that in a normal operating position its photographing direction is the same as the direction of the user""s eye, then the image generated by the camera can be used to realise an xe2x80x9caugmented realityxe2x80x9d effect, whereby the camera image covers a certain sector of the user""s field of vision and displays and/or communicates messages concerning something about objects in this sector which the user otherwise would not see with the naked eye. The camera can for instance photograph at a wavelength which differs from that of visible light. If the camera operates at the infrared wavelength, then the telecommunication device can contain a lamp part comprising infrared light emitting diodes, with which the object to be photographed can be illuminated by the user during photographing.